Book Description

| Age Level:8 - 18

The game of basketball has evolved over the last generation, but basketball practices have changed very little during my 30 years in the game as a player, coach, clinician, and consultant. Today’s game more closely resembles the game that we played on the playground than the one that we were taught in practices. The 21st Century Basketball Practice is an attempt to modernize the youth and high-school basketball and catch up to the evolution of the game.

I have coached at every level over the last 15 years, from u9s to professional teams. I have worked in the United States and Europe (and spent time in Africa and India). I completed a doctorate in Exercise and Sports Science, largely by studying basketball. My experience has provided a unique perspective to comment on practice and coaching. I have a practical perspective influenced by coaching at different levels and in different countries, and a theoretical perspective influenced by the latest research.

Tremendous amounts of learning occurred on the playgrounds and during pickup games for people of a certain generation, and players today often miss this learning to attend organized practices or sessions with a skill trainer. The 21st Century Basketball Practice attempts to reincorporate this learning that once occurred in unstructured settings.

Random and variable practice, task constraints, and contextual interference are academic words that describe ideas that coaches use daily in their practices. The 21st Century Basketball Practice briefly explains the background of these terms to explain the reasons for changing some fundamental drills and incorporating more small-sided and modified games into practices.

This book addresses what to do and what to say at practice and references my experiences with an under-9 AAU team, high-school freshmen, and professional teams. It is not a drill book, although numerous drills are explained and used as examples. Rather than list a number of drills, the purpose is to demonstrate at approach that generates countless drills, and drills that promote better performance in games.

The game of basketball has evolved over the last generation, but basketball practices have changed very little during my 30 years in the game as a player, coach, clinician, and consultant. Today’s game more closely resembles the game that we played on the playground than the one that we were taught in practices. The 21st Century Basketball Practice is an attempt to modernize the youth and high-school basketball and catch up to the evolution of the game.

I have coached at every level over the last 15 years, from u9s to professional teams. I have worked in the United States and Europe (and spent time in Africa and India). I completed a doctorate in Exercise and Sports Science, largely by studying basketball. My experience has provided a unique perspective to comment on practice and coaching. I have a practical perspective influenced by coaching at different levels and in different countries, and a theoretical perspective influenced by the latest research.

Tremendous amounts of learning occurred on the playgrounds and during pickup games for people of a certain generation, and players today often miss this learning to attend organized practices or sessions with a skill trainer. The 21st Century Basketball Practice attempts to reincorporate this learning that once occurred in unstructured settings.

Random and variable practice, task constraints, and contextual interference are academic words that describe ideas that coaches use daily in their practices. The 21st Century Basketball Practice briefly explains the background of these terms to explain the reasons for changing some fundamental drills and incorporating more small-sided and modified games into practices.

This book addresses what to do and what to say at practice and references my experiences with an under-9 AAU team, high-school freshmen, and professional teams. It is not a drill book, although numerous drills are explained and used as examples. Rather than list a number of drills, the purpose is to demonstrate at approach that generates countless drills, and drills that promote better performance in games.

I know that many of you are already thinking what does this book have to do with education? Here he goes with one of those off the wall posts that he does every so often.

I love education. I love coaching. I have been coaching basketball for 12 years and I get so excited every single year. Through my many years of coaching and learning to get better as a leader and coach I have found a deep respect for Brian McCormick.

His latest book The 21st Century Basketball Practice: Modernizing the basketball practice to develop the global player. is nothing short of amazing.

What I discovered while reading this book is how much teaching/education/parenting/learning/coaching are really all the same. I read the Kindle version and 61 highlights later I could interchangeably use the ideas from this book on the basketball court AND the classroom.

The overall vibe of the book is to help coaches learn to connect with the players, allow them to create their own learning, and provide guidance as needed. The way this happens is to provide voice and choice, quality feedback, and preparing the players/students for the real world situations. Sound similar to a classroom? Yes, it does.

I won't share all my highlights as you can connect with me on Amazon Kindle, but here are a couple that I think are very important to share.

1. Players make mistakes for three reasons. They don't understand. They aren't good enough yet to do what is asked of them or at least not good enough yet to execute consistently. They don't care.

Often in practice we focus on helping players understand and develop their skills. Sports are nice in that players not caring is not a huge issue(it does exist however) compared to the classroom. Often times in the classroom we blame students not caring instead of looking at the realization that perhaps they don't understand and we must change our teaching or maybe they simply are not able to process what we expect. In the end I don't think any of these options require punishment, but taking time to improve and explaining the "why" of what we do.

2. Use mistakes as teaching moments. Brian states several times not to intervene until the mistake is made three times. Give players time to correct the error. I love this and this is something I have worked to not stop every single play. In the classroom, we rarely use mistakes as teaching moments. We post the grade and move on. Rarely do we give time for students to make several mistakes and try to learn before we intervene. I am not sure how to pull this off in the classroom, but it is important to at least consider.

3. [bctt tweet="The only perfect technique is one that achieves the goal"]

I love this! It might be my favorite. We are all different and do things differently. If we have a system or technique that works, why would we try to fix it? Whether on the court or classroom we sometimes have to accept that others do things different from us and that is okay as long as they can get the job done.

I could go on and on, but you get a small feel for the book. I will blog more based on what I learned from this book, but if you like learning, coaching, and teaching then this book is important to read. Even if you are not a basketball coach there is something for anyone who works with students and/or players in the classroom, court, or field.

His ideas on practice goals, feedback, mistakes, reflection, and questioning why we do what we do are essential for all of us to ponder and find answers. We may not like the answers we provide, but then that is the opportunity to try and make change for the better.

At the end of the day we only have so much time with our players and students so why not work hard to make the best use of the time so you feel satisfied that you did all you could do to prepare them for the global world they are living in?Read more ›

Brian McCormick interrogates all of the lazy assumptions we as basketball coaches make. Bringing vast expertise in sports science, youth athletic development, and other research to bear, he then pieces together innovative, workable new approaches to developing basketball players and positioning teams for success. All of his books are worth owning, but The 21st Century Basketball Practice is especially valuable for coaches of any sport. It really crystallizes his research-based thinking about how to maximize player development and performance by ditching a lot of the traditional drills like the weave and default organizing principles like block segments. What do we as basketball coaches have to lose by experimenting with McCormick's small-sided games (instead of going through the motions with all those zig-zag slide drills, etc.)? Nothing at all, and our players will gain basketball intelligence, athleticism, and a lot more. This book encapsulates many of McCormick's most important insights. I also highly recommend Crossover, Developing Basketball Intelligence, and everything else he's written.

This is easily the best coaching book I've read in the last few years. I was writing so many notes I had to stop cause I was pretty much just copying the book.For those coaches who have an OPEN mind and are open to the idea that there may be better ways to do things, look no further. Not only does this book explain the theory, and back it up with results from scientific studies, it gives practical ways (an drills) so that you can actually implement the methods into your practices.

After coaching basketball at a variety of levels, Brian McCormick addresses many of the frustrations I've had with the over control of today's athletes.He gives a new paradigm (with depth of research to support) that more of us in coaching should consider.

I am not even finished the book and I want to write a review. A well written and academically supported substantive change in the way practices should be approached. Encourage all my youth basketball coach colleagues to devour this book. Your players deserve it.

More About the Author

Brian T. McCormick, PhD is a professional basketball coach, consultant, and clinician. McCormick has coached professionally in Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden, taking a team to the finals in Denmark's 1st Division and being selected to coach in Sweden's Damligan All-Star Game. He has coached CYO, AAU, high school, junior college, and college basketball in the western United States, and worked as a strength and conditioning coach for two junior-college basketball programs. McCormick has directed clinics in Canada, China, Greece, Ghana, India, Macedonia, Trinidad & Tobago, and throughout the United States, and spoken at coaching, strength & conditioning, and sports psychology conferences in the United States and Canada. McCormick completed his PhD in Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Utah, and has had peer-reviewed papers published in the International Journal of Exercise Science, International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, Journal of Human Kinetics, and Strength & Conditioning Journal.